Country: Kenya

What is this guide?

The guide provides an introduction to urban WASH programming: how to design and implement a pro-poor urban water, sanitation and hygiene programme. The recommendations are drawn primarily from WSUP’s extensive experience in sub-Saharan Africa and elsewhere.

Who is this guide for?

This guide is primarily designed for WASH professionals working in governments, development agencies, funding agencies or civil society organisations. It will also be useful for professionals working for service providers including water utilities, local authorities and in the private sector.

Nairobi’s super-slum Kibera is criss-crossed by sewer mains. So why not simply connect latrines to the sewer? Unfortunately it’s not so simple, for various reasons including high costs. In partnership with Nairobi Water, WSUP has been developing a ‘gradual sewering’ approach that aims to bridge the gap between onsite and sewered sanitation. This note looks at experience to date.

As mulheres e as raparigas sofrem os efeitos do mau saneamento e baixo acesso a água potável. Através do exemplo do estabelecimento de instalações de saneamento comunitário em Maputo (Moçambique) e em Naivasha (Quénia), esta Nota Prática ilustra uma abordagem à provisão de serviços WASH que promove a inclusão, igualdade e que põe as preocupações das mulheres e raparigas no centro da planificação e implementação do programa.

Women and girls suffer disproportionately from the effects of poor sanitation and lack of access to clean water. Through the example of establishing communal sanitation facilities in Maputo (Mozambique) and Naivasha (Kenya), this Practice Note illustrates how WASH service provision can be approached in a way that fosters inclusion, promotes equality, and places the concerns of women and girls at the centre of programme planning and implementation.

Appuyer les entrepreneurs à lancer des services pérennes d’assainissement peut être relativement simple. Cependant, des défis se posent en général quand il faut passer d’une entreprise appuyée par les bailleurs de fonds vers la vraie indépendance. Cette note se penche sur les obstacles à surmonter pour devenir une entreprise autosuffisante et discute comment progresser.

Supporting entrepreneurs to start up viable sanitation businesses can be relatively straightforward. However, challenges typically arise in the transition from donor-supported start-up to true independence. This note looks at the obstacles that need to be overcome in growing start-up businesses to become fully self-sustaining, and discusses how progress can be made.

A clear distinction is generally made between community and private management of water and sanitation services.  For example, entrepreneurs who provide services are assumed to hold very different motivations, values and approaches to Community Based organisations (CBOs). WSUP often seeks to go beyond this “community” versus “private” dichotomy, to try to get “the best of both worlds”. In this Topic Brief, the approaches used by WSUP in Nairobi, Kumasi and Antananarivo under the African Cities for the Future (ACF) programme are examined from this perspective of blending community and private management models.

WSUP’s work takes place in urban contexts with complex formal and informal land ownership arrangements, raising diverse challenges for water and sanitation service provision. For example, the people in most need of improved water and sanitation are often tenants, yet landlords may be unwilling to invest in better toilets. Similarly, improving these services often requires land for construction of communal or public facilities, raising the issue of land tenure. Drawing on WSUP’s experience in the African Cities for the Future (ACF) programme, this Topic Brief gives an overview of these challenges and discusses possible solutions.